PDP-11/70 in Yates Center, KS - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

31 Jan 2007

ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
...
 >> "William Donzelli" <wdonzelli at
gmail.com> wrote:
>>  > Jim Willing was one of the pioneers in this computer collecting
hobby
...
 >>  > (I apply pioneers to those of us that
were doing this seriously over
>>  > ten years ago - before this list, and before there even was a
hobby).
...
 >>
>> Cool! I'm a pioneer, having collected these things for close to 25
years.
...

 Even longer than me. I started in May 1986 (yes, it'll soon be 21 years
 of computer collecting here ;-)) 
Started playing with a PDP-11/40 in 1982 or 1983 in a computer club at
that time. We also had some other very odd hardware that we tried to get
working and had fun with. No software, but we had a few peripherials, so
we had to write our own monitor just using the front panel. And of
course we had all the drawings for the machine. And we were always
trying to get someone to donate more stuff to us. And of course, my
school at the time used a PDP-11/70, and at nights I was hanging out at
the nearby university, where they had a whole bunch of DEC-10 machines
on which I could get guest accounts.
By 1986 I got my first two PDP-8 systems home.
Almost wish I was back in those days. So much fun. And some really odd
hardware was still around and possible to get your hands on... I wonder
what happened to the VT05 terminals that we managed to get, and that I
hacked to get rid of the margin bell... :-)
...
 >> Well, I'm not sure I would call it
collecting in the normal sense  of the
...
  > word. I
want to keep these machines running, useable, and in use. 
 Just like me again. I keep on saying at HPCC that I am not an HP
 calculator collector. Yes, I have old HP calculators (handhelds and
 desktops), but I use them. I keep them operational, I do program them, I
 do use them for calculators. And I don't try to obtain every cosmetic
 version (that is, with differnt position of the serial number label,
 etc), but I am interested in at least seeing versions with substantially
 different internals (like the 2 very different logic boards that were used in the
HP80 financial calculator).
Still have my HP-41 around, and it's still my all time favourite. I must
admit I have collcted some odd hardware for it over the years that I
don't really use much though... But it's a rather hacked CX with modules
built into it, and some nice stuff around. :-)
...
  No, I am not intersted in having machines on the shelf
in original
 condition. I want to be able to sue them, investigate them, and so on. 
We think alike. :-)
        Johnny